Nigeria extends state of emergency

Nigeria's parliament has approved a six-month extension to a state of emergency in three northeast states hit by Islamist militant violence.

Senators on Tuesday unanimously approved the continuation of special powers in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states in a vote, following a similar backing from the lower chamber House of Representatives last week.

President Goodluck Jonathan requested the extension after calling the continued violence in the three states "daunting" and expressing concern about mounting civilian casualties.

The government first imposed a state of emergency in the three states on May 14 last year in an attempt to crush Boko Haram militants who had been waging an increasingly violent insurgency in the region since 2009.

But despite apparent initial gains, the attacks continued, and Jonathan requested a further six-month extension in November last year.

His renewed request came as no surprise, with Boko Haram thought responsible for killing more than 2000 people, most of them civilians, this year.

In approving the request, the senators said they "welcome and endorse the support of the international community" in the operation to rescue more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from the Borno town of Chibok on April 14.

They asked Jonathan, who has been criticised for his lacklustre response to the mass kidnapping, to "expand the co-operation and collaboration to the overall arrest of the ugly incident of terrorism in Nigeria".

The lawmakers called for "a full military operation to be undertaken on a sustained basis to route the insurgents".

But they also said that non-military means should be considered to address the causes of radicalisation in the impoverished Muslim-majority north.

Nigeria's national security adviser earlier this year announced a "soft power" plan to tackle the causes of the insurgency, including economic development and getting local people to shun extremism.